People & Places
The Republic Group, based in Dallas, announced two key personnel appointments. Steven L. Nyberg was named vice president of Personal Lines and Richard A. Mayer was promoted to vice president of Commercial Lines.
As Republic’s senior Personal Lines officer, Nyberg will manage both standard and non-standard lines of business. Nyberg began his insurance career with MetLife Insurance Company and has held senior management positions with Hanover and Citizens Insurance Companies, subsidiaries of Allmerica Financial Corporation. Most recently, he was president of the Personal Lines, Sponsored Markets line of business with Allmerica Financial Corporation.
Mayer joined Republic in September 2003 as assistant vice president of Commercial Lines, with responsibility for commercial lines underwriting, loss control and premium audit. He is active in industry associations, including Insurance Council of Texas, where he serves as chairman of the board of directors.
William A. Ledbetter, Jr. was confirmed by the Texas Senate as an Employer Commis-sioner of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission. Gov. Rick Perryappointed Ledbetter to the Commission in April 2004.
Ledbetter is director of Human Resources for Justin Brands Inc., a multi-plant, multi-state footwear manufacturing company with approximately 1,000 employees.
TWCC’s board is composed of six members, three representing employees and three representing employers. The Commissioners’ primary role is to set policy, adopt rules that enforce the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act and related statues, and implement legislation.
James (Jamie) E. Schlottman was named vice president of Commercial Group Sales for Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana Inc.
A 13-year veteran in the marketing of health benefit products to employers in Louisiana and Mississippi, Schlottman will be responsible for new sales, account management, sales administration and retention of Humana’s customers throughout Louisiana. Humana currently has sales offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport.
Schlottman previously served as vice president of Group Sales and Marketing for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. Prior to joining Blue Cross, Schlottman was with United Healthcare where he served as vice president of Small Business Group for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, as director of Sales for Louisiana and Mississippi, and as sales manager for Small Business for United Healthcare in New Orleans.
The St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc., headquartered in Saint Paul, Minn., promoted Michael Miller and Brian MacLean to the newly created positions of chief operating officers.
Miller is responsible for the specialty business and regional executive organization, and MacLean is responsible for the commercial business, including runoff businesses, along with his previous claim responsibilities.
In addition, Joseph Lacher, who has served as the chief executive officer of the personal lines business, was promoted to executive vice president of the company; he continues to lead personal lines. Douglas Elliot, who most recently served as chief executive officer, commercial and personal lines, has decided to pursue other career opportunities and is leaving the company.
The Texas Department of Insurance hired Kyson Johnsonas a special insurance fraud prosecutor in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. The new position, part of the Special Crimes Unit, represents the first such partnership between state and local enforcement authorities to address the major problem of insurance fraud.
Johnson recently served as an assistant district attorney for the Grayson County DA’s Office in Sherman, where he prosecuted all levels of felonies, including insurance fraud and other types of white collar crime, since 2001. Prior to that Johnson was a partner in the private law firm Burnett, Trahan & Johnson LLP, in Dallas.
Johnson is also a captain in the Army Reserve and served as a military attorney in Iraq for the first six months of 2004. While there, Johnson prosecuted the first court martial in the Abu Ghraib prison case.
Zurich promoted Bill Casey to the newly created position of senior vice president of regional management of its North America Commercial marketing operations. He will be based at the company’s headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., and will coordinate Zurich’s regional marketing and distribution efforts in North America.
Casey most recently worked as the regional vice president responsible for marketing and business development in New York, New Jersey and New England. Before joining Zurich, Casey worked at Allied Coverage Corporation as vice president of the environmental, wrap-up and risk engineering divisions. He also held senior positions at Willis Corroon, Reliance National and American International Group.
Charles “Chuck” McCaig, CIO of Chubb, has been designated the new chair of ACORD‘s Board of Directors. Barbara Koster, CIO, Prudential Financial, was selected as the chair-elect.
McCaig has been with Chubb since 1991 where he is responsible for information technology. He is a member of Leadership New Jersey, the Society for Information Management, and the LOMA CIO Council. He also chaired the Operations Committee for the ACORD Board of Directors.
As CIO of Prudential Financial, Koster oversees the use of information technology company-wide, including the formulation of policies, establishment of standards and architectures and the development of guidelines and management practices.
New Directors on the ACORD board are Lawrence G. Brandon, American Institute for CPCU, and John Chu, senior vice president, eBusiness and Technology, The Hartford Financial Services Group.